Viewers still discovering Alabama’s wonders

By Tommy StevensonAssociate Editor

Monday

Jul 27, 2009 at 12:01 AM

TUSCALOOSA | “Discovering Alabama,” the University of Alabama’s Emmy-nominated public television series about the natural wonders of this state, is celebrating its 25th year on the air and the more than 80 programs it has produced.But Doug Phillips, the show’s creator and host for a quarter of a century, is taking the milestone in stride, much as he does large alligators heading for his canoe in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta or a confrontation with a rattlesnake in the woods of north Alabama.“Twenty-five years and 80 shows is nothing,” he said in his crowded office in Smith Hall, UA’s natural history museum, where he serves as an environmental educator as well as producer of the show. “We could do this for 100 years and 10,000 shows and not show all that Alabama has to offer. Alabama is just that diverse.”The half-hour show, which airs on Alabama Public Television stations in prime time and in Sunday afternoon reruns, is now an APT staple and was one of three finalists for an Emmy in the natural history category in 2005. Phillips said it grew out of classes he was conducting for Alabama teachers in the early 1980s.“The university pioneered educating school teachers in environmental sciences, natural history and the wonderful, real outdoor world to be found in Alabama, and one day, one of the teachers I had in class said, ‘You know, this is so inspiring, you ought to do a television show,’ ” he said. “To tell the truth, I had already been contemplating some sort of show, but I had in mind just being the executive producer and hiring some sort of TV-type guy to do the on-air stuff.”Other than his enthusiastic teacher-students, though, Phillips said he got little positive feedback.“I can’t tell you how many people said, ‘Who would be interested in a show about Alabama outdoors?’ ” he said. “The early and mid-1980s were a very different time from now.”But Bill Connell, at the time an audio-video producer in the communication school at the university, saw the possibilities, and the two began collaborating on what would be essentially the pilot show for “Discovering Alabama.”“That was in 1984 and we didn’t call it ‘Discovering Alabama,’ but after we worked it up and it aired, there was tremendous response from throughout Alabama,” he said. “We then took that to the administration and they said ‘If you think it will work, go do it.’ ”After only a handful of the quarterly shows were produced, however, Phillips’ strong environmental activism around the state made some members of the administration and the board of trustees uneasy.“I don’t want to name names or go into ancient history, but essentially, I got fired,” he said matter-of-factly. “The show was canceled after only six or seven shows.”His exile lasted only a couple of years, however, and after a stint teaching at Troy, Phillips, who attended West Point and has a doctorate from UA, attracted some underwriters, including Mobil Oil, and was about to resume the show at Auburn.“I was in a hotel room in Auburn, ready to meet with the administration the next day when I got a call from the university,” he said. “To make a long story short, I came back to Tuscaloosa and have been doing three to five shows every year since.”The first “Discovering Alabama” show in the series features a visit to the Mobile delta area, which Phillips said was full of endangered wildlife two decades ago.On a more recent episode, “Delta Revisit,” Phillips said he found great improvement.“The first time we went down there, we didn’t see many alligators because they were endangered by then,” he said. “But they have come back strong and we opened up the show with me going down a creek with great big old gators coming off both the banks.“I had a hard time getting the camera man to get in close enough.”Phillips said one of his favorite episodes was an early one, “when we were about to run out of money.“So we just took a camera and went for a walk in the woods in a heavily forested area of north Alabama,” he said. “We just showed what we encountered — the various plants and trees, a little lesson on how to find water, how to find edible plants and just whatever came to mind.”“A Walk in the Woods” is now show number 19 in a series of 65 DVDs that can be ordered from Discovering Alabama, at the Alabama Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 970340, or online at discoveringalabama.org.Other shows available on DVD span the length and breadth of Alabama, from Mount Cheaha, the highest point in the state, to Guntersville State Park in northeast Alabama to Dauphin Island, off the Alabama coast in the Gulf of Mexico, and just about everywhere in between.“Discovering Alabama” is meant to be more than a mere travelogue, Phillips said.Phillips gets passionate when he discusses the purpose of the long-running program.“Education needs to make real-world connections,” he said emphatically. “And in Alabama a powerful real-world connection can be found everywhere in this wonderful state and all its natural beauty and variety.“It’s right there in front of us and all I am trying to do is explore it and take the viewers with me. We are trying to make connections between people and the richness of our state.”